The Life Changing Magic of Tidying by Marie Kondo

I ordered this book on amazon.in last year. I watched a video on youtube on the efforts put into Tidying Up in Japan and this was one of the books that featured in the video. I found the concept, described briefly in the video, to be very interesting and, placed an order for this book.

As the name suggests, this is a self-help guide to tidying. Though the title of the book states, "tidying", it mainly focuses on decluttering and, organizing to an extent. Also, it focuses only on certain categories of items such as- Clothes, books, old photographs etc. However, the concept described in the book should be applicable to other categories as well.

The writing in the book is quite simple and clearly indicates the author's fanaticism, obsession and passion about decluttering and organizing things. The main selling point of the book is that one has to follow the steps she has  mentioned, only once in a life time and would never have to worry again about tidying, for the rest of their lives. She refers to the method described in the book as KonMarie method- obviously derived from her name. 

The book describes about how one can go about decluttering and organizing in a step-wise manner. She has also included some real life experiences while dealing with her clients on decluttering- some of the which are quite hilarious. She has tried her best to inspire and encourage people to tidy up. Sometimes, it does get too repetitive but in my view, she really wanted to drive the message home. Her passion for tidiness is quite evident throughout the book. 

The other thing about the book is- the author personifies all her belongings and treats them like humans. She also encourages people to have conversations with inanimate objects. One can either view this superficially and think of this as something crazy or look deeper and view it as act of gratitude- being thankful for a home, as an example. Several shades of the Japanese mindset are evident throughout the book- mindfulness, gratitude, respect etc. While it looks like I am defending the book, my genuine intention is to highlight that certain writings need to be looked into deeper. 

I thoroughly enjoyed reading the book and did feel motivated for days while reading, and also after. This being said, I am a procrastinator when it comes to decluttering and organizing my belongings and I have not yet implemented KonMarie or any other methodology for decluttering or organizing (I am not to disorganized). I hope I will be able to at least give KonMarie a try some day.

I did search for people who have actually implemented what they thought about the effectiveness of the method described in the book. Click here to read more from another blog, which I absolutely loved. I wish I could style my blog that well.

I rate this book a 4/5 for inspiring me, specially in a time in my life when I as a little low on motivation. 

1984 by George Orwell

This book was gifted to me by my uncle several years ago but I got around to reading it only last year. I think my uncle bought this book at Landmark book store in Bengaluru.

When I picked this book up, I really did not know what to expect. The description at the back of the book created a very different image of the story in my mind and when I actually started reading it, I was completely bowled over. It is a rather unusual story.

The story revolves around a different world (really, I mean it, do read it to find out more), in a fictional country called Oceania, where everything is controlled by Big Brother, who maintains a constant watch over every move by every single citizen via telescreens- does this ring any bells? Yes, the British show Big Brother and its Indian variant Big Boss, has been inspired by this very book. People are trained hard to think that Big Brother is their Godfather and that they have to commit absolute loyalty to him in every action they take. Oceania is projected to be in a constant state of war and people in the country are living in extreme austerity where everything is rationed out.

Big Brother, (who comes across as an organization, rather than an individual as there is a constant reference to "the Party") has a force called the "Thought Police" that ensures that every single thought by every single individual conforms to Big Brother's requirement and belief system. For example, if Big Brother calls broad daylight as darkness, people have to accept it without questioning, failing which, they would be subjected to arrest and extreme torture- I think you get the picture, basically no independent thought process. Amidst this, there is a man named Winston, who has a different thought process- a rebellious one but he keeps it suppressed as much as he could, however, he and his lover defy the rules of Big Brother secretly. Their defiance, leads to a series of events which are not pleasant.

It is one of the most creative books I have ever read. It is very obvious that a lot of careful thinking  has gone behind the conceptualization and planning of the plot. It is not the easiest book to read and understand. The reader must be able to read between the lines and sometimes beyond, to really appreciate this book. One is bound to have several questions about various events and characters in the the book. There are a lot of online forums where the book is discussed in detail- I never used any, as I have understood the book (I think). My husband read this book years ago and I discussed some parts of the book with him to gain a better understanding.

I would rate this book 4/5. It would have been a 5/5 if it ended the way I wanted it to, but did not. It is still an amazing book and I highly recommend it. However, this should definitely not be one of your first books if you are only beginning to cultivate reading as a hobby/habit or even if you want switch to this genre of books from your preferred ones.

Landour Days by Ruskin Bond

I am writing after a long time- was suffering from Reader's and Writer's block. This is my attempt to unblock. I realise the only way to get rid of the block is to actively work on whatever you have a block on and eventually, one would get out of it.

Coming to Landour Days- the book was gifted to my husband by his friend and it had a surprise in store for us when it arrived. The book was personally signed off for my husband by Ruskin Bond himself. My husband's friend travelled to Mussourie and the nearby hills during summer vacation and came across this book store which Ruskin Bond frequently visits, and requested the store-keeper if he can get us autographed copies of Ruskin Bond's book by the man himself. The store-keeper kindly agreed and shipped the book to her in Mumbai. It was an amazing surprise for us.

The complete title of the book is, "Landour Days: A Writer's Journal". It is true to its name and is a compilation of excerpts from Ruskin Bond's personal journal (at least it looks like it is from his personal journal) and is organized a little randomly, but has been done beautifully nonetheless. It is a very simple book and easy to read. It is not a bulky book, but rather small with not too many pages and can be read in an afternoon.

The book is a mix of his description of nature in the hills which Mr. Bond has observed, interspersed with several anecdotes, many of which are really hilarious. As I mentioned earlier- a simple book which is easy to read. Some parts of the book might not be appealing to all readers and some might find it boring, but not me- I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. Sometimes in our stressful lives, all we need is some simple joys in life and this book provides a complete flavour of the same. Writing anything more about this book here will not give you the experience you deserve while reading.

On a scale of 5, where 5 is the highest, I would rate it a 4/5. If you are having a reader's block, you might want to try reading this one- it will surely pull you out of the slump.